Bulletin Board

• "All We Wanted was Just a Simple Agreement..."

• The material contained in these articles is provided for general purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. Appropriate legal advice should be sought for specific circumstances and before action is taken. A Cautionary Tale...

• "April Fool's Day? Afraid not!"

• Buy in goods? Sell them on again? To consumers? If so, read on! The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 came into force on 31st March 2003. Included within the provisions are terms that: YOU as seller become liable for...

• "Don't Breathe a Word"

• 'Course its confidential but is it? Cray bought the coating and structural resin business being operated out of a factory. It had paid good money for the manufacturing formulation, ingredients, business documentation and unused raw materials. ...

• "I'm Disabled and I'm Being Evicted"

• Protection from Eviction for Tenants with a disability under the DDA A recent case involving residents of Burrington, Devon has resulted in further protection being given to those with a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act. A tenant with...

• "Marriage to Fail at Church Steps?"

• Can a proposal be made and accepted by conduct? A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat or is it? There was a company called Confetti right. It owned a record called Burnin right. One of the best garage tracks! Man it was wicked. Everybody wanted...

• "What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?"

• Introduction During the period 1992 2000, the following incidents were caused by the abuse of alcohol and/or drugs whilst at sea: incidents of grounding 2 loss of vessel 2; and injuries to fishermen 11. These statistics were...

• All Change for Charities

• Charities are big business. Did you know they have an annual income of over 26 billion and employ 450,000 full time equivalent people? Most are pretty small affairs but nearly 90,000 have an income of more than 10,000 per year. Increasingly they are used by...

• Ancient Notices and their Absence

• Problems still arise with tenancies granted before 1997 when the landlord had to serve a notice on the tenant advising him that the tenancy was to be an assured shorthold tenancy. If the notice was not served before the start of the tenancy, then the tenancy...

• Cornish Pirates Fixture List 2006-2007 (provisional)

• 12 Aug 06 Sat Launceston/Ebbw Vale (Mennaye) H 19 Aug 06 Sat Gwent Dragons H 3 Sep 06 Sun Otley H 9 Sep 06 Sat Waterloo A 17 Sep 06 Sun Moseley H 23 Sep 06 Sat Leeds Tykes A 1 Oct 06 Sun Newbury H 7 Oct 06 Sat Doncaster A 14 Oct 06 Sat...

• Corporate Services

• When running any business, there is always a great deal of administrative work that needs to be done. However, as the old clich goes time is money , so the less time you spend dealing with paperwork and administrative matters, the more time you have to run...

• Defra Proposes New System of Penalties for Fisheries Offences

• It is widely accepted that for an allegation of criminal culpability to be converted into a finding of guilt, which leads to a criminal conviction, there must be a process which tests and examines the allegations made by the accuser. Defra has begun a...

• Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Website Accessibility

• If your website is not fully accessible to all, your business could be missing out on a share of the 40 - 80 billion that is spent by the 9.6 million UK people with disabilities each year. Through the rapid evolution of the Internet, service providers...

• Disability Discrimination from October 2004

• From 1 October 2004, there are key changes being made to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ( the DDA ), which will have a significant effect on businesses in the South West, many of which until now have been exempt from the provisions of the DDA until...

• Do you need a Works Council?

• Does your business have more than 150 employees? If so, new regulations coming into force on 1 April next year mean that you might need one. The Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations 2003 put into place rules allowing your staff to ask you to...

• Employees with Drink Problems

• Question : My family business is a medium sized garden centre in Cornwall, specialising in tropical plants. I am the general manager and in charge of all the staff. I have one particular employee that I think has a drink problem and I am concerned that he...

• Employment Bulletin August 2004

• Do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that last few months have seen few statutory changes in the employment field. The bad news is that there have been a number of key cases that you should be aware of and there are number of very...

• Employment Bulletin Mar 04

• 2003 was another busy year for new employment law and 2004 will be too. To help you keep up to date, this is a summary of the main changes that will affect businesses in Cornwall at the start of 2004: Discrimination From December 2003, it has become...

• Employment Changes - April 2005

• This month brings a new wave of legislation on employment law and yet more obligations upon employers. The main provision relates to larger businesses, which have more than 150 employees. From 6 April, employees in this size of business can get together...

• How to Grow Your Business

• Funding for Small and Medium Size Enterprises One of the major factors affecting any growing business is funding. It is an acknowledged fact that without the ability to grow and develop, most businesses will stagnate and potentially fail. Equally,...

• Intellectual Property Bulletin

• COPYRIGHT The Artist's Resale Right Regulation 2006 The Regulations came into force on 14 February 2006, a welcome St Valentine s Day gift to UK artists. The artist's resale right (sometimes referred to as the droit de suite) will entitle...

• Licensing Act 2003

• The Licensing Act 2003 is already in force. We are now in the transition period when licensees must apply to change their licences from those granted under the old licensing regime to those granted under the new law. AFTER 24 NOVEMBER (i.e. the second...

• News from the Courts - Bad Tenants!

• What do you do with the drunken tenant? Be very careful is the answer. And make sure your insurance is up to date is another. A professional landlord owned a house divided into a number of flats. It was built at about the beginning of the last century....

• News from the Courts - Rented Housing

• Rented housing used to be a political football with the emphasis swinging from the landlord to the tenant and back again with every change in Government. Members who have been in the business for a long time will remember with a shudder the Rent Act 1977...

• News from the Courts - Strange Names!

• Sometimes cases are worth reporting to you just for the names. A case in the Court of Appeal this month about a lavatory involved a landlord called Niazi (and you have to read that rather carefully) Services Limited and a gentleman by the name of...

• Office Pornography?

• With the internet and email revolution, staff in offices often now receive and open joke emails and follow links to sites that have been emailed to them by friends and colleagues during the day. Although the majority of these are harmless, the time this...

• Overview of the Disability Discrimination Act

• An Overview of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005 The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The DDA came into force in 1996 providing protection for disabled people in the spheres of employment, goods and services, accommodation, transport...

• Sex Discrimination Act & Christmas Parties!

• Small businesses firm up or pay up In the run up to Christmas employers are being warned to ensure their employees are reminded of the appropriate behaviour expected from them at work, including at the office party. The law in relation to sex...

• Tenants are Consumers?

• Landlords beware! Do you let properties as part of your business? Did you know as a result of a recent Court of Appeal decision you must avoid unfair terms in your tenancy agreements? The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 can apply to...

• The 'Spectrum' Case - April 2005

• STOP PRESS Update on National Westminster Plc v Spectrum Plus Ltd others (the Spectrum case) The validity of fixed charges over book debts The Spectrum case continues to rage on. It is due to be heard by the House of Lords at...

• The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002

• Question: I am about to take on a lease of commercial premises. Should I bother with a survey or will the landlord not be responsible for the premises? Answer: The short answer is that you should check the lease to see how the repair and...

• The Essential Guide to Commercial Law

• In front of me is a blank sheet of paper entitled An Essential Guide to Commercial Law . As I lift my eyes from the page, and slightly further beyond, my son is doing his best to test the patience of his swimming instructor. A little further on and through...

• The Freedom of Information Act

• The Freedom of Information Act The current Code of Practice on Access to Government Information will cease to have effect from 1 January 2005. Disclosure of information by public authorities will, from 1 January 2005 be regulated by the Freedom of...

• The House of Lords Reverse the Law on Security Over the Book Debts - August 2005

• National Westminster Plc v Spectrum Plus Ltd others The House of Lords reverse the law on security over the book debts As many of you may have seen, the House of Lords have now returned their judgement on the Spectrum matter. As I raised in my...

• Timely Warning to Directors

• There has perhaps never been a tougher time to be a company director in the South West. The Department for Constitutional Affairs has announced that 10% more companies were wound up in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2004....

• To b'eu' or not to b'eu'...?

• The deadline is looming if you are hoping to register a Web domain name ending in .eu , the new European address, before the predicted free-for-all scramble starts. Any applications made by companies with existing trademarks and other similar protected...

• You're Fired!

• The famous catch phrase of Sir Alan Sugar is all over billboards and TV screens again, heralding the return of the fascinating series The Apprentice . This is the program where fourteen hopefuls from a business background fight it out to win a job with his...